Advair HFA and arms and legs

I have been on Advair 250/50 for approx 4 yrs. I am 47 now. I Know I have to take the medicine for my COPD every 12 hrs. If not, I have difficult time breathing. I had leg cramps in the beginning, but not too much now. The problem that is most bothersome now is low back pain. Not sure if I have osteoporosis setting in, or it is just a side effect. I am always coughing up mucus. My shoulders, arms, and legs, are very sore to the touch. Feels like someone has come up and slugged me, and that is just from a finger touch.
I know I cannot get off of the Advair, If does help my breathing, but I also know the consequences if I do not take it. Almost like my life line.
Does anyone else feel this way?

I am glad to see I am not crazy!! I started on advair a week and a 1/2 ago. My blood pressure went up and after 6 days of taking advair my bp was 140/99. Heart rate increased from 60's-low 70's up to mid 80's. I have always had really good bp before this and a good heart rate. I also had weird sensation in my arms and legs and a tightness in my chest that would come and go. I had a headache pretty much the whole time I was taking advair. I had horrible cramps in my feet and legs. I also had something strange happen to my face. I got a strange pain in my cheek that went up to my eye feeling like there was severe pressure behind it and then after making my eye water it went back down to my cheek for a minute and then disappeared. I was starting to get really creeped out by all these things happening so I bought a bp machine and monitored my bp. 48 hours after stopping advair my bp was excellent (106/66), heart rate back to the 60's, no more weird sensations, headache is gone, no cramps in my legs/feet, and my crappy mood has improved. All these strange symptoms are gone! I will never take that crap again!! It may work for some but it didn't work for me.

hello,
I started taking advair six months ago. I now have a rash that won'tgo away. It consist of large red bumps, most ly on my arms and legs, if I get a cut or scratch it doesn't heal properly I never had skin problems before I started taking Advair. I can't find it listed in any of the Advair side effects.

I am a 37 year old female who took Advair for 2 1/2 years. When I first started Advair I called everyone I knew with Asthma and told them it was a miracle drug that they should ask doctors about.

My first negative symptoms were severe leg and foot cramps and numbness in legs. I did not associate them with Advair for a long time. These side effects were never listed in the drug info sheets I read. I then began to feel tired all of the time. And, I developed an awful rash all over my body, especially on the arms and legs (behind knees). I saw many doctors who could not tell me why I was sick. Finally, one doctor suggested stopping all meds, one at a time. We found at that I was allergic to Advair, the thing I thought was saving me. I was switched to Asmanex which is great--for now.

I am reporting these side effects of Advair to affirm those who are suffering and who may be getting crazy looks from doctors, like I did. They did not believe that I was in the kind of pain I was in. They did not make the association of Advair with rashes, though more and more users seem to be reporting this.

At the same time that I have had bad reactions, I have to say that my 9 year old is on Advair and it has been a GREAT drug for her. So far, I have seen no side effects, but we'll keep watching. I still think its a great drug for certain populations, but people need to wary of its possible negative impacts.

May God Bless All of us Asthma Sufferers!

I began taking Advair about 2 weeks ago. Approximately
1 week after starting Advair, I began to have leg and thigh cramps that awakened me during the night. (worse than I had ever had before in my life and I'm 40 something.) It got progressively worse and spread to my arms and legs. I finally had to stop taking it after an "episode" 6 days ago. My legs, thighs, arms and hands began to cramp and spasm all at once! My husband assisted me into a tub of hot water to help calm my muscles down.

Per Dr.'s instructions, I have not taken it since. The side effects have slowly began to deminish. I continued to have cramps during the night for about 4 days, my muscles were very sore and achy as though I had been working out really hard. Now they are still a little sore and they feel very tired and fatigued. However I am getting better day by day. I have been instructed to go back to using my previous preventive inhaler.

I also gained 6 pounds, but that could have been from the prednisone that I am taking.

I would like to say that the Advair did help to improve my asthma symptoms. I'm dissapointed that I had to discontinue using it.

Hi Everyone,

It is a blessing that I found this site.
I have been on Advair 250 now for almost three years and it has only done the one good thing it is supose to do ( keep my air waves opened. ) The side effects have been hell for me. I am 38yrs old now and in three years I have gained 52 lbs., swelling in the legs, arms, and face. I get really bad cramping in my feet and legs alot at night as well.
My mood swings are are very depressing. I am feeling like I do not belong here on the earth and that it would be better for my husband and kids if I weren't here for them to see me.
I went to my Doctor to talk to him about how I feel but he say's I could be going through the change of life. He also say's that thre is not enough steroids in the med. to have that much of a side effect. I couldn't even pee more then once a day it was that bad for me. I was litterly hold my water well.
He put me on fluid pills to help with the fluid retention and they didn't work. First he said to take one a day. So I did for a month. Nothing happened. So I asked him if I could up it to 2 a day? He said yes. So for a month I tried 2 a day and again that did n't work. So I turned around and upped them again without his permission thinking it won't hurt me to 3 a day. Well I started to have more problems so my Dr. sent me to a specialist and he sent me for blood work. When they came back I was called to come back to the Dr.'s office. He has his chat with me told me it was a no no for that amount of pills to be taken. I told him that it was the only way I could get rid of the fluid in my arms and legs. He said that if I were to have continued on these pills I could have suffered Cardiac Heart failure.
Now in Dec.2002 I went and had Abdominalplasty done where they cut the fat off your stomach and do some liposuction in some areas. Well I went in at 213lbs and in one hour I left at 206lbs. Now after 8 days. I managed to put the weight back on me and I started to cry. My husband and I spent almost $ 8000.00 on my procedure because my Dr. told me that I was gaing to much weight and if I were to continue down this path I am going to kill myself slowly.
I tried the Atkins, weight watchers, and now I am going to CURVES and have done the 6 week loss challenge with 3 other ladies and by the end of the challange they lost weight and inches and I gained in my waist , belly, arms , thighs, and boobs. I was so depressed that I gave up exersising altogether. Why bother I feel that if I'm going to go I might as well be heavy.
I have taken myself off the advair now for 4 days and it has been hell for me but I'm not going back on it. So if anyone has any ideas on what we can use as a replacement without the steroids let us all know.

PS; Before going on the Advair I was on 40mg. of Prednisone ( steroids )a day for 10 days on and 7 days off for 3 months. I was a nightmare to live with. I looked and felt the same way as I did 3 yrs ago. So they can't tell us that there isn't enough steroids in it to have this effect I think theyare not getting the picture clearly.

Thanks, Dorothy

Hi Everyone,

It is a blessing that I found this site.
I have been on Advair 250 now for almost three years and it has only done the one good thing it is supose to do ( keep my air waves opened. ) The side effects have been hell for me. I am 38yrs old now and in three years I have gained 52 lbs., swelling in the legs, arms, and face. I get really bad cramping in my feet and legs alot at night as well.
My mood swings are are very depressing. I am feeling like I do not belong here on the earth and that it would be better for my husband and kids if I weren't here for them to see me.
I went to my Doctor to talk to him about how I feel but he say's I could be going through the change of life. He also say's that thre is not enough steroids in the med. to have that much of a side effect. I couldn't even pee more then once a day it was that bad for me. I was litterly hold my water well.
He put me on fluid pills to help with the fluid retention and they didn't work. First he said to take one a day. So I did for a month. Nothing happened. So I asked him if I could up it to 2 a day? He said yes. So for a month I tried 2 a day and again that did n't work. So I turned around and upped them again without his permission thinking it won't hurt me to 3 a day. Well I started to have more problems so my Dr. sent me to a specialist and he sent me for blood work. When they came back I was called to come back to the Dr.'s office. He has his chat with me told me it was a no no for that amount of pills to be taken. I told him that it was the only way I could get rid of the fluid in my arms and legs. He said that if I were to have continued on these pills I could have suffered Cardiac Heart failure.
Now in Dec.2002 I went and had Abdominalplasty done where they cut the fat off your stomach and do some liposuction in some areas. Well I went in at 213lbs and in one hour I left at 206lbs. Now after 8 days. I managed to put the weight back on me and I started to cry. My husband and I spent almost $ 8000.00 on my procedure because my Dr. told me that I was gaing to much weight and if I were to continue down this path I am going to kill myself slowly.
I tried the Atkins, weight watchers, and now I am going to CURVES and have done the 6 week loss challenge with 3 other ladies and by the end of the challange they lost weight and inches and I gained in my waist , belly, arms , thighs, and boobs. I was so depressed that I gave up exersising altogether. Why bother I feel that if I'm going to go I might as well be heavy.
I have taken myself off the advair now for 4 days and it has been hell for me but I'm not going back on it. So if anyone has any ideas on what we can use as a replacement without the steroids let us all know.

PS; Before going on the Advair I was on 40mg. of Prednisone ( steroids )a day for 10 days on and 7 days off for 3 months. I was a nightmare to live with. I looked and felt the same way as I did 3 yrs ago. So they can't tell us that there isn't enough steroids in it to have this effect I think theyare not getting the picture clearly.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

84-year-old mother with severe breathing problems on Advair for 36 days. We took her off of it. She had:
- SEVERE joint pain and swollen limbs : especially left leg and foot and hands
- painful, sore tongue
- bloody noses
- blurred vision; swollen eyes
- dizziness (more than usual)
- itching, especially face and neck
- general sense that something not right in her head (she "could feel something is going on"); started having memory problems (she's a double PhD; no Alzheimer's)
- hair loss (a lot)
- shaking; tremors in arms and legs

Now back to Albuterol nebullizer 3x per day and Singulair. Might try Flovent with the above.

Doctor put her on Advair to get her off of prednisone (5mg/day). The Advair was like a 'miracle' drug - she had easier breathing within a day, and the breathing benefit lasted throughout the time she took Advair. She generally has very labored breathing and lots of air whistling in and out of her mouth as she walks. She is also on oxygen most of the time. She had tried Combivent inhaler (no longer effective) and Serevent inhaler (still will use this in emergencies). Also have emergency supply of prednisone but haven't had to use it.

Advair was GREAT with facilitating the breathing. Wish the side effects weren't so numerous and so serious.

I have COPD and been on Advair for one year now. I have the cramping in my legs and my arms and legs constantly ache-- Also--I have not seen this on any of the above but has ANYONE had any dealings with hair loss? I have been loosing alot of hair daily for the past few months and I also have the bloating of the stomach all the time.
I am only on Combivent and ADVAIR so something is doing it to me. I am 62---